


Unmaking the Future

by Mithen



Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Angst, M/M, Sacrifice
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-29
Updated: 2011-06-29
Packaged: 2017-10-22 14:35:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/239096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mithen/pseuds/Mithen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While talking with the Superman from the past, Batman remembers the day he and <em>his </em>Superman took their first ride on a dragon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unmaking the Future

**Author's Note:**

> **Continuity** : Comics, "[Sorcerer Kings](http://mithen.livejournal.com/tag/scans%3A%20sorceror%20kings)" storyline in Superman/Batman.  
> 

The Batwing leans over Superman, her black velvet nostrils flaring as she snuffs his scent. Her sinuous neck curves as she casts a puzzled look at Batman, and he stifles a slight sigh. _I know how you feel, 'Wing. Familiar, and yet not right._

Indeed, the smile on this Clark's face, full of wonder and delight as he strokes the dragon's lustrous scales, is hauntingly like _his_ Clark's. Almost against his will, Bruce remembers the first time Clark saw the Batwing.

Batman had flown on 'Wing to the coast, to where he knew Clark would be sitting, staring out at the strange sun coming up over the horizon, as he did almost every morning. When they landed in front of Clark, the massive iron-gray wings blowing his cape out around him, he had simply stared at the two of them, his face blank. Slowly, he had held out his hand, the way your might to a dog or a horse, and she had sniffed at the open palm delicately, then lipped at his hair.

"You've tamed a dragon," he said as she snorted and gave up on the hair.

"Not tamed," said Batman, patting her neck. "She'll never be _tame._ But we've come to an understanding." He held out a hand. "Care for a ride back to Gotham?"

"I can fly," Clark pointed out, his voice flat.

"Come on, Clark. Don't tell me you've never wanted to ride on a dragon."

Clark stared at his outstretched hand as though he had never seen it before. After a long moment, he took it and let Bruce swing him up onto the back of the dragon. She swiveled her neck backward to blink at her double burden, but when Bruce whispered to her she coiled all her long muscles and launched herself into the sky.

The wind was fierce around them, snatching away Bruce's breath as it left his throat. He could feel the power of the magnificent being beneath him, taut with the joy of the flight, her wings thundering against the air as if battling it. She threw back her head and trumpeted, a deep bellow of joy and defiance at the world, at the sky, at anything that would stop her flight.

At that moment, Bruce glanced back at Clark and saw him smile. It was the first time he had smiled since Lois had died.

Bruce swore then he would make Clark smile again.

And he did, Bruce thinks as his mind comes back to the present, back to where Superman stands, full of hope and strength. They had smiled together for a while, defying fate and grief.

To set the world right, Bruce will have to erase the reality of what they came to mean to each other, to make it so he has never known the feel of Clark's mouth, warm on his.

He will give it all up, unmake the most precious memories he has ever had. Worth it all, he thinks, for the cherished smile he remembers, echoed on Clark's face before him.


End file.
